Newcomers of the Damned
by asham9
Summary: As two "new" and mysterious stalkers entered the zone, Tolik abandoned the rookie camp and decided to set out in their adventure. A story of redemption, betrayal and faith.
1. Formalities

Prologue

"_Hoi Wolf…hey Wolf, You there?_"

"_What is it Sidorovich?_" Wolf replied back to his PDA.

"_I have a mission for you. Interested?_"

"_Depends…how much?_"

"_Enough for you to last about a month._"

"_Ugh…_"

Wolf let out a long sigh, he knew the greedy old fart got him by the nuts. This is probably because he was getting low on his wealth, only a few hundred hryvnias and a couple of kopiyoks won't make him survive the rest of the month, especially when Clumsy kept sucking up Wolf's money drier than a bloodsucker draining a whole chubby guy…like Sidorovich.

"_What is it Sid?_" Wolf asked, doubting the pay was going to be anything but adequate thanks to Sidorovich's insatiability.

"_You in?_"

"_Yeah,_"

"_I knew I could count on you my boy! I need you to escort two new recruits by the name of __Timur and Petro__ from the military outpost to the Bar, and don't worry I already bribed that slime army dog Major K__uznetsov__._"

"_Hmmm…_" Wolf thought.

"_Sounds good?_"

"_Just two questions,_"

"_Shoot,_"

"_One, who's gonna take my post? These rookies are fucking useless without me. Second, are these new recruits gonna be one of us?_"

"_Ah, Fanatic will take your post, but in a moment Tolik's gonna come out of the bunker with some equipment you need to hand to these new recruits, and no, they're not gonna be you Loners, they're not here to scavenge anomalous rocks for petty little cash…_" explained Sidorovich with a smidgen of slur.

"_Why are they here then?_" asked Wolf, getting a tad curious.

"_Why don't you ask them, bloody hell I'm not in the mood to chit-chat, anyways just go wait for Tolik, Kay thanks bye._"

Sidorovich ended the call, Wolf stuffed his PDA back into his right pocket and waited for Tolik.

"Tolik eh? Of all people…" Wolf pondered.

---

"I'm as clueless as you are," confessed Tolik, who knew nothing about these new 'recruits'.

Wolf became vaguely frustrated because of the fact he was escorting some un-loner stalkers, fearing that they would be some low-life criminal thugs who would before long join the bandits, or some stuck-up newbies for the Duty Faction. Tolik handed the veteran loner two bags contained two Fort-12Mk2s, twelve cartridges of 9x18mm Makarov ammo, some med kits, a binocular, three cans of tourist delights, and a bag of brand new bolts.

Wolf slung the two gears on both of his shoulders; it has been a long time since he did _anything_ beyond Cordon. He remembered the days where he had expeditions deeper within the zone with other stalkers equivalent to his rank and along with his brother Hound. '_Ah good times,_' he remembered, reminiscing back when his life in the zone when it was more adventurous.

"Let's go," invited Tolik.

"You're coming along?" Wolf asked astonishingly.

"I'm curious, just wondering how they look like or something."

"Just go back to sleep, the army will kill you just for sport." said Wolf in a matter-of-fact kind of tone.

"You can't scare me man, you suck at that…" Tolik knew even in his common sense that Sidorovich gained Wolf the rite of passage of not getting in harm's way but when there is going to be an extra stalker in the vicinity, it is _Rambo_ time for the military. _Oh well, curiosity kills the cat,_ Tolik thought, true to his words he was actually nosy for once, let alone being willingly enough to risk himself to the hands of the army just to know how these mysterious stalkers look like. Despite having an irrefutable probability of getting shot, something was telling him to go, was it that sign? The sign of a different dream, a _good _dream. Other than the usual haunting nightmares that kept taunting him, torturing him every time he laid his eyes to sleep. The two loners headed to the road uphill of the Rookie Camp, and went south opposite of the barrier where Major Kuznetsov is located. The army outpost was a few a kilometres to the camp and fortunately the armed forces were tolerably indolent to bother them.

The grassy fields of Cordon created a surging wave that can only be seen above, the crows cawed and circled on a fallen mutated boar having that stench aftermath. A pack of blind dogs rested beside the shaded trees, but failed to realize the presence of Wolf and Tolik. As the outpost appeared in the horizon, one lieutenant in the watchtower spotted the loners with his colossal binoculars.

"_Stay put stalker, the package is coming,_" the lieutenant buzzed through Wolf's PDA.

For a short moment, the barrier outpost lifted and made way for an Ural-4320 off-road truck, and then the lieutenant came down from the watchtower and gave orders to the driver whilst pointing towards the horizon. The Ural was used in the Russian army as either for weapons cargo or troops transport, for this truck it was the former. The 6x6 vehicle traversed its way towards north of the faded boulevard. Wolf step aside beside the road and motioned Tolik to do the same, the motor vehicle stopped where Wolf is, the driver leaned towards his opened window.

"You with Sidorovich?" he asked, ignoring Tolik's presence

"Obviously," Wolf replied, thinking the question was silly.

What Wolf didn't notice is that the driver had a partner with him, the partner smiled at Wolf and shook the driver's hand, and he stepped out the car, looked under the truck and called out:

"Roksana, get off, time to walk,"

"Roksana? Isn't that a girl's name?" Wolf questioned and gave Tolik a confused look, Tolik just shrugged.

"Obviously," muttered the driver under his breath.

There were many grunts like _'oomph!' _and _'uumph!'_ as she unclipped the hammock attached under the truck. Everyone except the driver looked under the vehicle, watching her struggled and fell on the road with a _bump! _She crawled out of the truck, covered with the vehicle's oily lubricant. She threw a nervous smile and wry chuckle while attempting to tidy herself from the mess. It was never common for a woman to be in the zone, but it was a sight for sore eyes. The two loners looked at each other and gazed back at the woman, her appearance was like any other Ukrainian woman in their 20s, with only one exception, her lush ginger hair were vivid in appearance, but it did not outmatch her lambent hazel eyes. Wolf didn't react as awestruck as Tolik did, his mouth laid wide open, scanning from her face to her slim overalls.

"You guys look like you've never seen a chick for ages…oh right." said the second acquaintance abruptly, break off Tolik's long-lasting awkward gaze.

Tolik then paid his attention to the other client, he was a chubby-looking man in his mid-30s with a proud and self-assured look on his face. His hair was roughed-up and black, with visible strands of grey hair standing amongst the black.

"The name's Yadviga, _here_ they call me Hacky" he greeted, offering his hand, "and this is Roksana."

Tolik took his hand and introduced himself, "Tolik,"

Wolf on the other hand retorted, "Hold on a sec, what do you mean _people call you Hacky_ _here_, have you been here before? And I was expecting more of a Petro and Timur to be here, not Gingy and Fatty."

"HAHAHAHAHAHA," Hacky burst out with a mocking laugh, "I totally get it! Come on brother, walk with me and I'll explain everything." he assured Wolf with an arm on his shoulder.

When the truck disappeared into the north and the two customers wore their gear, Tolik observed the two men, Wolf and Hacky, wandering off together while leaving the poor lady unattended. Tolik felt an urged to follow them, although he knew he wasn't getting rewarded for this but it is somehow going to be _worth_ it. Tolik turned to Roksana, he donated her a smile, a hand and two encouraging words:

"Come on,"


	2. The Reason

The reason

The garbage acted like a holy land to the loners and the bandits due to the availability of easy-to-find and common artifacts and the rare presence of powerful mutants. A couple of years ago, countless bloodshed were made between the two factions as they fought to gain control of the territory. Fortunately enough for _both _of the bandits and loners, today the casualties are less extreme than before.

A fight ensued at the southwest corner of garbage beyond Bes's hangout. At first sight it was just the usual loners and bandits, but to a keen observer, one could spot the skilled tactics the _loners_ are using. For this battle, the loners only had four stalkers while the bandits had twelve. Separated between distances to create a square field surrounding the bandits whilst taking cover, it was a charming maneuver that made the loners effortlessly picking off the bandits one-by-one, like a casual party hunt shooting disoriented critters.

As the bandits decreased gradually, the leader of their gang gets more unnerved.

"Die you fucking cocksuckers!" roared the veteran bandit, as he whizzed his worn-out Uzi towards the small circle of loners. The loners took cover in their respective and separate derelict parts of the garbage, and then the bandit suddenly ended his rampage with four solid shots to his torso.

The loner closed in near his remains, holstered his Beretta 92F, crouched over to him and dug up his PDA. While the three remaining loners scavenged through the corpses of the other bandit lieutenants.

"Phew! Good shot Crow, we finally caught the bastard, got to admit though...that was too easy." congratulated his colleague loner Ovseenko.

"Tonight we celebrate! We didn't lose anyone! Woohoo!" said the third loner cheered and held up his LR-300 to the air, victorious once again.

Crow smirked and replied while rummaging through the deceased's PDA.

"Oi Ov, what was the name of the target that Shev said?"

"Uhhh I think it was Evgen or something, he calls himself the Dark Crusad-"

"We've got company!" the fourth loner exclaimed as his PDA detected foreign figures that gradually increased to fourteen stalkers, excluding them.

_It's a fucking trap!_ Crow thought as he commanded his team to find cover, he didn't expect the bandits to use these _kind_ of tactics, disguising their novices as elite bandits and played them for bait. He double-checked the "veteran's" PDA, instead of Evgen it was Ivanchuk.

Now he just realized the _real_ expert bandits were closing in, with better equipment, weapons and more ammo. He cursed himself for being outsmarted by these unforgiveable scoundrels of the zone. Crow knew only luck would save him and his fellow loners, for this rare occasion has made him prayed for god's mercy because only Him can hear their far cry.

While Crow and his faction's fate remained unclear, four other stalkers entered through the garbage entrance from Cordon. Two pairs divided the four stalkers, one with Wolf and Hacky, which the former was politely listening to the latter. The other was Roksana and Tolik, both suffering from the excruciating awkward silence since their extraction point.

Instead of having the faintest effort self-introduction, he made a miserable attempt of eavesdropping what Hacky has been blabbing about the whole trip, but the only words he picked up was "fool" and "fat fuck". Just a few minutes later, he gave up with a sigh and looked down the concrete boulevard.

"Well sorry!" Roksana said abruptly, thinking that Tolik's sudden fed up expression was directed to her.

"Oh no, it was not meant for you!" he replied, barricading himself with reassurance.

"Riight…"

"No I'm serious! I'm just…I'm…just bored." Tolik retorted, knowing that he failed to pick up the right words, he looked down on the stones that were once belonged to the jaded road, and kicks them.

"And the reason of your boredom?"

"Is that its quiet?"

"Because?"

"I know where this is heading…" Tolik said, losing his politeness thanks to the unwanted nostalgia catching up on him.

"No shit." With that said she smiled at the corner of her lips, with utmost satisfaction and looked upon the grey cloudy sky, wondering when it will ever shine.

"At least we're talking now."

"Uh-huh,"

"So, where are you from?"

"I was born in Kharkiv, moved to Australia at the age of two…can't remember anything but the name," she explained.

"Sad…"

"I know right? "How about you?"

"The capital, grew up there and had a family too." Tolik looked away, regretted for saying the last part and prayed that Roksana won't press on further.

"Why the hell are you here then?"

"Because they're dead, so why bother…" Roksana can detect the coldness of his hasty reply, she quickly said:

"Oh sorry-"

"Please, don't be. But why _are_ _you_ here?" Tolik smiled as he spotted a couple of pseudodogs fighting over some meat scraps.

"It's a long story,"

"I like long stories."

Roksana chuckled, "Fine then, I'll tell you…"

Meanwhile, Wolf looked over his shoulder to check upon Tolik and Roksana, and looked back at Hacky.

"So her father is here in the zone and part of the military?" Wolf asked pointing towards his subject.

"Yup," Hacky replied, examining his low weaponry.

"And so is her brother, but instead a merc?"

"You got it!"

"And is she like, trying to find them or something?"

Hacky holstered back his weapon and smiled to Wolf with content, "You can say that,"


	3. Roksana's Story

Roksana's Story 2012

My dad dropped out of school at the age fifteen, and then three years later he joined the Soviet Union, more specifically he was assigned at the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Ninth Convocation, the third and last of the Soviet Constitution. It's a pity though because my dad didn't do jack shit the first year except the fact that he played a petty role as a poster boy, but one thing you should know about my dad is that one, he never gives up, and two, he's more loyal than any Skye Terrier staying at their master's grave to the very end.

"What's a Skye Terrier?" Tolik interrupted.

"It's a dog. Wiki it." Roksana said impatiently.

"And what's Wiki?"

"Don't you mind! Alright anyways…"

In those days, the Soviet Union was on an immediate standstill, as they focused more on reforming their fading economic stability and maintained a sound parity to the United States in the areas of military numbers and technology, if they didn't, we all know what the U.S are going to do.

While the Soviet were licking their pathetic wounds, a year later my dad was assigned to fight the Soviet-Afghan War, they were going against the Islamist Mujahedeen Resistance just because they were Muslims that didn't want to go with the Soviet flow. He fought for nine years and for a guy his age, I reckon he's not too bad. In 1988, the Soviet commanded a troop withdrawal and my dad was awarded awesome Soviet medals, I could still remember when I was small, I and my brother would play as a lieutenant and a general with his medals pinned to our clothes, it made our little play a little more realistic and fun. Oh yeah I almost forgot to mention our family, two years later he had an arranged marriage to my mom, Eleonora Pylyp. In 1990, my bro was born and named after his father Sergiy Jr. and two years after that here I am before you Roksana Yaroslav. I had my father's eyes, so did my brother but my other looks are my mother's features while Junior's looks are a hundred percent his father's.

After the Soviet Union collapsed and on December 8, 1991, the presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus signed the Belavezha Accords which declared the Soviet Union dissolved and established something called the Commonwealth of Independent States, meaning the three different countries are now independent and best of all Karl Marx's dream world is long gone.

"How do you know all this history shit?" Tolik interjected.

"Because like all the normal kids, I go to school…and…and I read books." Roksana replied with an annoyed patronized voice.

"That's not normal."

"Whatever you say dickweed."

Okay where was I? Oh yeah! Now you would think that my dad was set for an early retirement and our family would live happily ever after but it didn't happen that way, my dad was a man of war and he had no form of domestic skills and no chance of adopting in society. The Soviet-Afghan war had a major impact on him and our family too, especially my brother. Our family moved to Ukraine and he joined the Armed Forces of….well, Ukraine. In the 1990's, the Armed Forces grew a close relationship with NATO, and when I meant close I meant "I'll suck your dick, you suck my dick". My dad was assigned in peacekeeping missions in Yugoslavia, my mom didn't want him to go to Yugoslavia and they bitched about it, "it's either me or your _precious_ country!" I could still remember her saying that as if it were yesterday. So when I was only two, my parents got themselves divorced and our remaining family went to Australia for "great" opportunities. My dad then applied the Ukrainian Government to support our education from kindergarten to high school as long as my mom would study and graduate in one Australia's finest universities and then after we got enough money to support ourselves, we became permanent residence to Australia. My dad still visit my family, he'd usually come only two to three times a year and we would have an awfully silent and awkward dinner together, nothing to talk about, might as well don't visit at all if you're going to act like that.

Tolik nodded, "Word."

My brother who is the only family member or perhaps the only living being that admired my dad and wanted to follow his footsteps, I don't know why but I reckon he just want his father's attention and so he was enlisted in the Australian Defence Force. As the years passed, my mom graduated and worked her career as a math teacher, I'm still in uni, my dad was still in Yugoslavia and my bro was still in the army still trying to impress his dad, I guess he inherited his "never-give-up" attitude from his own idol. Until in the mid of 2005, my dad lost his right leg due to a minefield accident and went straight back to his precious homeland. For me I thought his trigger-happy days were over, probably because the fact that he spent his days holed-up in his condo alone but a bottle of vodka with one hand, drinking himself to death. But knowing my dad I was wrong, he got himself a prosthetic leg and returned back to military and that's how he got himself in to the zone.

"How?" Tolik interrupted, again.

"Dunno." Roksana shrugged.

Alright, at first when I heard about the zone, I thought "yeah whatever", but then money began rolling in our mailbox in the form of cold hard cash. It ranged from ten grand to a hundred grand Hryvnias dollars and it was followed by a letter. It wrote:

"_Dear my beloved family,_

_I hoped that this letter came before the money, but it doesn't matter anyways. There is a new place that I'm in, a new world that I am in. At first I was just assigned to that place because those army bastards thought they could rid of me since of my unfortunate accident. But I am alive and well and I just want to tell you how much you guys meant to me. This new world has these magnificent, rare and valuable things called artifacts caused by the second nuclear explosion. And that explains the money coming right down to your pockets. I am giving it to you because I don't need it, not anymore. And it wouldn't be likely for to come back. This new world is where I belong. Yours Truly,_

_Sergiy."_

"Wow, well-ummmm….yeah." Tolik responded after finishing the letter, speechless.

"What a dick right?" Roksana sighed. "He'd rather be in this apocalyptic shit-hole than he'd be with us!"

Tolik nodded pretentiously, "Yeah, but again the million dollar question is, why are you here? Are you like searching for him then?"

"For my pa? Nah, it's my bro…"

"He's here?"

"Yeah he's trying to find him, Junior would write letters to him every day and eagerly wait for his replies, and of course my dad was courteous enough to write back until late that year he stopped sending his letters, and the money too. And when Junior was in the zone, he would get in touch with us by email, a while later it's _his_ turn to stop replying to my messages. Don't care so much about my dad, but I do care about my brother. He's a cool guy, he has always been there for me, my mom and unfortunately my dad. I don't wanna lose him."

"Oh I see," Tolik would never have thought that such a cliché family drama would exist in of all places the zone, and yet the world continues to amaze him and the same time inflicting him the emotion of empathy.

"But wait a minute," Tolik began, "how did this guy come in the picture?" Gesturing at Hacky, who was obnoxiously chatting to Wolf one-sidedly whatever comes to his mind.

"It's a funny story, I went to Kiev in need for support from the government but they can't do shit. They don't help stalkers Hacky said but they didn't bother helping my dad either."

"I met Hacky at a bar," Roksana continued, "It was one of those conservative hundred-century bars where war veterans, ex-convicts and forest hunters unite."

"As you would expect any other overweight single guy in their mid-forties to hangout." Tolik smirked.

Roksana giggled. "Shut up! He's a nice guy. Anyways, he told me to meet there and we had a chat and I agreed to pay him the money that my dad has sent. So it's a done deal!"

"How much are you paying him?"

"Ten grand,"

"That's too little for where you are right now."

"I know, but he said he didn't do it mainly for the money. He just wanted to lend a hand."

A moment of silence ensued, "But because of that I don't trust him."

Tolik's eyes widened, "Why?"

"Just a small hunch,"

"Okay, do you know his real name?"

"Nope."

The gate to Rostok was moderately guarded by the Duty faction with Sergeant Plichko in charged. The faction is one of the mightiest stalker clans of the zone, legendary stalkers that were formed by survivors from then Ukrainian Military troops and Special Forces Units that were left not to survive but to die at the hands of zone's cruel and horrifying elements in the form of anomalies and mutants. They were the earliest fighters of the zone and also the unluckiest, as they were traumatized by deaths of their close friends that they talk to everyday about which girl they are going to bang when they get back home, terrified by the twisted and alternate reality existing in the surface of the Earth as they watched their comrades getting sucked-up into the air in a unforgiving break-neck speed and exploded into smithereens and also at the sight of a mutated and invisible humanoid that sucks your blood by penetrating the Kevlar armour through the skin with its razor sharp tentacles. It was tough, it was hellish, and it was bloody but it did not serve as a fear factor but instead as a sheer motivation to destroy the zone and its corruption without a doubt. As the years passed, that motivation, the will to eliminate the zone has been gradually fading into only their official tagline as their current intentions and focus is to destroy their opposition, the Freedom faction. Roksana's dad might be in Duty after all, since he was one of the earliest stalkers assigned from the military...but only if she knew.

Tolik watched as Roksana and Hacky joined together and exchange conversation with two of the Duty onlookers. Wolf strode back to Tolik, whipping out his lighter and a pack of cigarettes.

"No thanks," Tolik declined politely as he was offered one.

"So what do you make of this?" Wolf asked, lighting the cig at the corner of his lips.

"Dunno, what did the fat bastard say to you?"

"Aside from the _small _pep-talk, a whole lot of bullshit I reckon."

"What do you mean?"

"He said that the girl there," Wolf pointed at Roksana, "wanted to search her daddy and her big brother in this _zone_ with him lending her a genuine goody-goody hand."

"Yeah he's doing it for ten grand, I know that's not much but still _I_ reckon Roksana's telling the truth."

Wolf looked at Tolik in disbelief and whispered, "Ah come on pal! Do you expect some brat from Australia who has her life already set out for her to search for her missing relatives?"

"Not much for the dad but for her bro-"

"Don't let her cute little charms fool you, Tolik" warned Wolf, taking another puff.

"Well at least you're already done your mission...what do you have against them anyways?" Tolik asked as he watched the two newcomers sat down by the fire with other Duty stalkers.

"I got nothing against them," Wolf protested, "It's just that...why do they have to lie to Sidorovich about their names, huh? What do they have to _hide_?"

"They aren't lyin-" but before Tolik could finish, Hacky approached the pair with his usual warm or eerie grin.

"Thanks for your company brother, looks like they aren't much bandits as they're used to be." Hacky laughed.

"They're still _are_ but I guess you could save a bit of money without me escorting you huh?" Wolf answered coldly.

"Yeah I guess..." Hacky said with a wry chuckle, "Say, how bout we head to the bar? Drinks on me!"

"Nah," Wolf declined the offer, "I'm heading to the army warehouse, just catching up with a couple of old friends of mine."

"But brother I insist!"

"No, but thanks anyway."

Hacky looked a bit disappointed, or maybe acted disappointed but his attentions quickly turned to Tolik.

"How about you...ummm...what's your name?"

"Tolik," Tolik extended his hand as if he introduced himself for the first time.

"Wanna go grab a drink?" Hacky offered.

"Yeah I could use one."


	4. Sole Survivor

Sole Survivor

An hour ago…

Evgen smiled to Crow with great content as he pointed his slick M1911A1 U.S. Army Colt at the center of his forehead. Crow gazed back deep with hatred into the bandit leader's eyes as he laid down with an elbow to support his upper body, shot twice at his left leg as he tried to make a run for it while dropping his Berretta and LR-300 to lighten his weight, he was out of ammo anyways. He didn't need to look at his comrades as he knew they were already dead, but he looked anyway. He watched as the bodies of his close friends being rummaged by the rats of the zone, he gritted his teeth and clenched his fist with the dirt of the earth under his nails. The burning rage grew inside him, killing him with defeat and humiliation, he didn't make an effort to hide his displeasure, especially towards Evgen.

"Bang," Evgen mocked as he tilted his gun upwards as if it was a sick joke. He holstered back his Colt and strode across Crow, heading towards his subordinates.

Crow blood boiled even more, "Aren't you gonna kill me?"

Evgen didn't reply immediately but instead requested his lieutenant to inform Borov about the capture.

"You resigned from the mercs two weeks ago, am I correct?" Evgen asked, ignoring his previous question.

"What does this have to do-"

Evgen aimed his Colt at Crow again, "I ask the questions here, not you."

Crow went silent, surprised for a bandit leader to use ruthless tactics and strategies, and to even speak far from a criminal. At the moment Vyhor detected fourteen high-ranking pro bandits in his PDA, Crow knew he was screwing with someone simply _smarter_. From the looks of it, Evgen is not your everyday criminal thug you see in the dark alleys of your streets. In fact he was more than that, he was a notable hitman in a large populous city named Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine. Born in a small village of Tulchyn, at the age of five he lost his father due to a severe case of Tuberculosis. Two years later after that, Evgen woke up to found out that his mother has left him.

"Your friend Shev just set you up," Evgen continued, "So at the moment you are in a very tight spot."

"What do you want then?" Crow negotiated, "It's obvious that you're not after my stash." Crow looked back at the remains of his teammates and their stolen equipment. The hammering pain of his left leg won't stop, his mind was receiving numerous agonizing shocks from his leg's pain receptors. He slowly moved his hand to apply pressure to the wound so it would reduce bleeding and at the same time, preventing his sworn enemies from detecting his attempt.

"Last week, there was a meeting between the mercenaries and the bandits to discuss on some certain issues…" Evgen began and a moment of silence ensued. "…and then the unexpected happened! Five rogue but professional loners ambushed the meeting in the Wild Territory and all of them were impressively killed, including my close friend, Blaze." The bandits gathered around Crow, one leaning on a derelict tractor taking a smoke, three sat at their respective building debris comparing their newfound weapons, the others were just standing, grinning, mocking, and laughing at the pathetic state of Crow. Crow hated the emotion of fear, the thought of the excruciating terror of going to be tortured and killed. The feeling of when you are afraid and panic in a deadly and helpless situation that will result you to beg for mercy or pray for help, that feeling of hopelessness.

"Of course it was a no-brainer that Crow and his little gang did it, am I right guys?" Evgen shrugged towards his allies and they murmured in agreement. "But the real question is…" Evgen began moving back and forth as if he was a college professor hitting his students with a tough calculus question. "…why did you do it?"

"You wanna know why?!" Crow fumed.

"Yeah I do want to know why…"

"It's because…" Crow took a deep breath, "The mercs aren't what they're used to be, not now, not ever, they fucking sold themselves to you fuckin' pigs! AAAAAAAAARRGH!" Crow screeched in tremendous agony as Evgen forcefully crushed Crow's wounded leg and joggled it as if he was stepping the butt of his cigarette.

He hurled back in pain, trying to regain control of the numb feeling that he is receiving. The bandits laughed cruelly, mocking his cries, in fact, one of them is recording this demented torment with his Nokia phone.

Evgen raised his hand for his fellow no-life members to halt and went towards Crow and crouched beside him.

"Wolfhound wants you dead, Borov wants you dead, and _I_ want you dead." Evgen said, "So I want retribution, but not the stereotypical retribution…" Evgen motioned his gun, "…I'm talking about _my_ kind of retribution."

"What do you want from me?" Crow pleaded.

Evgen grinned and stood up, "Okay boys, get him up, he's coming with us. Let's head off to the Agroprom!"

---

Garik tries to maintain his straight posture, but he couldn't help leaning forwards and backwards with his tiptoes, and also his eyes on Roksana. Despite the fact that Tolik rarely goes to Rostok, let alone the bar and Hacky hasn't been in the zone for a long time, Garik and the rest of the current stalkers in the 100 Rads paid their unwanted attention to Roksana's figurine, especially her plump breasts, stunning hips and that nice ass. Of course it was natural for the male species, after a while of enduring female isolation, fantasizes extremely of one's sexual needs. Natural but still very creepy.

Roksana sat at the far right corner of the bar interior, knowing that they were some horny or plainly curious guys staring at her, she ignored by focusing on the varnished wood of the interior. It was ancient and nearly faded, there were some small parts of vandalized chipped wood and some soaked parts too, obviously from the liquor. The three sat together, Roksana was beside Hacky and Hacky was beside Tolik.

"What can I get for you gentlemen…and lady?" the barkeep offered, with a notorious wink to Roksana.

"A bottle of Lvivske please," Tolik replied.

"A Bombora for me…" Hacky tapped the counter.

"You don't by any chance serve cocktails do you?" Roksana smiled flirtatiously.

The bar residence turned their eyes all to Roksana, wishing that they have a miraculous cocktail right under sleeves, and hoping to be the first one to get laid in the zone.

The barkeep gulped, "No…No we don't unfortunately."

"I'll have a Jack Daniel's then thanks."

After having received their drinks, the respective stalkers held out their hands of liquor as a toast, to progress. Tolik quenched his thirst with the cold icy beer down his throat, "_Nothing is better than a nice local beer…"_he thought.

Tolik stood up, took his stool and placed it between Roksana and Hacky, blocking the path of any potential drunken moron from introducing themselves and preventing anyone from eavesdropping.

"How long have you guys been around here?" The barkeep asked, wiping his beer mugs with a stained cloth.

"She's new…I haven't been in the zone for ages and I don't know much about this guy." Hacky replied, thumbing at Tolik.

"I've only been here for like…two months." Tolik claimed. "Don't usually hang out here though."

Roksana grinned flirtatiously, "So why _do_ you hang out here Tolik?"

Hacky sniggered, "It's obvious isn't it?"

Tolik gave a weak smile, he didn't know why all of a sudden that he wanted to follow these two newbies. All the time he spent in the zone were mostly collecting artifacts (if he was lucky enough), hang out with his friends at the rookie camp, sleep, fleeing from the bandits or the military and getting his ass saved by an amnesiac stalker named Marked One.

"Well let me tell you the truth right now Tolik." Hacky said, "I only paid Wolf _half_ of the money. Let's admit, the zone is no doubt a treacherous place, and we definitely need more than two stalkers doing this mission of ours. Did Roksana tell you about why we are here?"

Tolik nodded. "Good, because I can't be bothered explaining myself to death. So, are you good with guns?"

"Can't say that I am…" Tolik admitted, reminiscing a gun battle between the rookie loners and the small-time bandits. It took him nine cartridges of 9x18mm Makarov ammo to lay down a limping bandit fleeing from the scene.

Hacky looked disheartened, his chances with Wolf were slim from the very beginning. He knew he shouldn't have been too friendly and outgoing.

"I know who you're looking for!" the owner of the 100 Rads said.

Roksana eyes widened with joy, "Who?!"

"There is a stalker by the name of Flash, one of the most energetic and cunning lad I have ever seen here in the zone. He wears nothing but a black bandit jacket and some Kevlar pants, and with only that, he survives the zone for eight months and counting. There's more about him…interested?" Barkeep asked, tapping the counter for a sweet tip. Hacky took out his wallet and pulled out a fifty and laid it down to him. The barkeep grinned with satisfaction and recounted his thoughts.


	5. A Few Good Men

A Few Good Men

"WHAT?!" Evgen roared at his PDA, a presence of shock swept across his face. They were just informed that the bandits in the Dark Valley were massacred, including Borov. Evgen couldn't believe his own ears, was it because of the two Duty hostages that they kidnapped two days ago? Very unlikely, as they have taken hostages before from that faction on numerous occasions, so why were these two so important? Simple, it wasn't the Duty faction, it was:

"_It was just one stalker Evgen, a bastard named Marked One!_" exclaimed the escaped survivor. "_He was like a fucking one man army!_"

Evgen stood still along with the remaining comrades waiting for his next orders, speechless and stunned by the tragic news. There was a minute of silence, only the sound of the crackling leaves played around by the vortex anomaly was present, their "peaceful" moment was either made to commemorate the loss or the worries of disastrous forthcomings of who is going to fight for the now vacant bandit throne. They were originally on their way to the Agroprom, sneaking their way behind the loners' den of the abandoned train station, but now there have been an obvious change of plans.

"Shit!" fouled Poker. "What do we do now?"

Evgen strokes his hair to the back of his head, "Give me a moment, will ya?"

"We should head to the Wild Territory…the Mercs are there." suggested Snigur.

"Are you a fucking retard? _I_ still need to take care of this cunt!" Evgen pointed at Crow.

"Why can't we just kill him now?!" argued Poker, his patience growing rapidly thin.

Crow watched the two men bickered, he was still bleeding from the wound Poker gave to him, luckily it was just two stray fragments of a shotgun shell. Two outlaws, a child rapist and a drug trafficker held him side by side, both of them gripped him callously firm with the former positioning his gun to the side of his stomach. The ex-mercenary took a quick glance at the dilapidated train station full of loners unaware of his dire situation. If only he could have the will and energy to reach that stacks of concrete for cover, which is like a checkpoint halfway to the station and then sprint across to the gate, but alas his leg is no fit to do that Hollywood stunt.

"We should go back and kill that fucker!" Poker commanded.

"Hey I'm in charge asshole and I say we go to Agroprom!" retaliated Evgen, gritting his teeth as he clenched his M1911A1 U.S. Army Colt with his hand. Poker however was either oblivious or unaffected by the threat and continued on his rant.

"What are you some goddamn pussy? Are you actually afraid of one guy?"

Evgen's mind snapped, his rage that surfaced through his face was immediately suppressed as he casually shot Poker at his right knee, startling his subordinates but none of them protest Evgen's ruthless actions, for no one was close to Poker anyways. The cloaked man fell on the ground and cursed his leader, Evgen did nothing after that, he was aware that he suffers from a short-term memory loss due to some accidents in his time in the zone. In a few hours or so, he would forget everything, so the leader has absolutely nothing to worry about. _Karma came early,_ Crow thought, karma was one thing, opportunity was another. The two criminals were distracted, so he quickly pulled off his right arm and elbowed the drug trafficker at the nose and snatched the rapist's Jericho 914F while hooking him with his left, using him as a body shield. Before Evgen and the rest could react, Crow grasped the flash grenade from his current hostage, bit the pin off and chucked it down the ground.

The bandits went at once blind, responded automatically by firing blankly with into Crow's direction only to get close enough in a few inches to his feet.

"Let go you bastard!" whispered the prisoner, Crow retorted by choking him a bit. A soldier's way of saying 'shut the fuck up".

Reaching for that cover was one of his most excruciating ordeals in the zone. Not only does his leg hurts like nails hammered to the flesh, he had to drag his struggling hundred and seventy-two pounds of body protection too. He was almost there, his heart racing furiously, one step at a time, with every ounce of strength, and then…his prisoner suddenly became too heavy to carry, his torso shot thrice. The bandits finally regained their sight and began blazing their assault rifles at Crow, but finally and fortunately he reached his checkpoint.

He dragged the corpse with him as bullets flew from all directions, they were closing in pretty fast, Crow could hear Evgen's infuriated roars to get him back _dead or alive_. He yanked out the Heckler and Koch MP5 from the holster and emptied the magazine at his enemies with his arm above the cover while the rest of his body is sheltered. The bandits took cover, same as Crow as he tried to remain calm, drenched in sweat and the sound of his hearting thumping through his ribs. The bandits resumed their rain of bullets, the chances of surviving a gang of elites is a zero to none. In the heat of the moment, Crow drew a hand grenade from the remains and threw it high. The bandits heed warning of the grenade and retreated, seconds later an explosion occurred, and then a brief moment of tranquility.

Crow reloaded his submachine gun and went back fighting for his life. One of the bandits, Snigur was the closest as he crouched behind a tree. The loner took aim but he was already shot, not by Crow but a sniper. The shot came from the train station, it was a suppressed shot, possibly from a Vintar BC. Then a couple of loners came out from the station and greeted the bandits with AK-74s.

"_I got you covered!_" buzzed the sniper through one of the loner's PDA. The chosen stalker sprinted across the path between the derelict trains to the current position of Crow. The nearest bandits were being picked off one by one by the sniper, while some tried to retaliate back only to get fired off from the third loner shielded by the train.

"You okay?" asked the rescuer as he crouched next to Crow.

"I'm alright," Crow replied, who failed to express a tremendous amount of gratitude towards his savior.

"Can you walk?"

Crow nodded. The loner then lifted him up by his shoulder as five more loners began to come out of their hideout to join in the rescue.

In a minute or so, Crow was already in safe hands and the remaining bandits retreated, afraid to lose any more lives as of what happened in the Dark Valley.

"Flash! Flash! We got him! He's safe!" shouted the loner, proud of their accomplishment. The sounds of metals clanging can be heard from the sniper coming down the rusted stairs. Crow tried to maintain his fading conscious from the sheer exhaustion just to have a glance at the other man that saved his life, but the only thing his eyes could grasp on was the scar across his face and his Vintar BC.


	6. Hacky's Stash

Hacky's Stash

4:29 AM

22nd May 2012

It was one of those bitter cold nights, Flash glanced at his analogue watch. He pressed the "light" button, the watch shone forty-one minutes past two in the morning in bright neon blue. The stalker rubbed his shoulder arms and dragged his ass slightly closer to the corroded barrel that held the fire. It was his shift to stay awake for a couple of hours, feeling somewhat envious towards his colleagues snoozing under their imaginary blankets, or outdated newspapers from the 1980's.

He looked over at his rescued prisoner, asleep, and still recovering from the injuries. It was the sound of the gunshot that alerted loners, the shot that was directed to Poker, who escaped the unexpected gunfight by crawling his way to safety. Flash spotted the dispute on the veranda with his Vintar BC, at first the thought of rescuing some poor sod was blocked by hesitation and pure common sense, but as what they all say, logic defines reason, but reason is what makes him human.

He held out his PDA, checking his messages.

_You have __1__ unread message._

That caught the stalker's attention, it read out:

"

_Date: Fri May 21 _at_ 6:23 PM_

_Flash, come to the bar, got a client. Pays well. But he's asleep, you might want to talk to him in the morning._"

He grinned, and placed his Vintar BC across his shoulder and nudged Seriy at the tip of his boot.

"Hey I'm going, it's your turn. Oi, wake up you bastard."

Seriy mumbled and shoved his foot away, and with that the sniper took off without another word.

6:47 AM

22nd May 2012

The ordeal that Crow endured seemed like a wacky dream that would never happen in a million years. As he just woke up feeling groggy, drowsy and barely conscious, what seem like a dream slowly and wickedly turn into a real-life nightmare as he became more and more aware of his current situation. Three of his close friends, lives lost in just a matter of minutes, except him. He felt the pain of betrayal, digging his palm deep within the flesh with his dirty fingernails. He wanted to kill Shev, put a bullet in his head, then hunt the remaining bandits, kill Evgen and...

_Ah what's the fucking use?_ Crow thought, and punched the wall in dismay.

"You're awake," greeted Seriy, who came to check on the rescued hostage.

Crow didn't say anything, he examined the wounds on his left leg. All stitched and bandaged.

"To tell you to truth, we weren't gonna save yah." Seriy said, relaxing his back against the wall.

"Then why am I here?" Crow replied monotonously with a blank stare.

"Because Flash is a sad excuse for a white knight. He's the one that saved your sorry ass."

"Where is he?"

"Hundred Rads," Seriy tilted his head, "What? You're gonna thank him, tell him you owe him him your debt? Don't bother."

Crow kept quiet, he observed the other loners with some loot and spare weaponry essentials from the bodies of bandits that were piled up outside the station with nothing left except their bandit jackets and trench coats. The ex-mercenary stood up, and looked over an AK-47 just laying there on the dirty floor.

"Mind if I?" Crow asked.

"Knock yourself out," Seriy said, "Where you heading now?"

Crow checked the clip of the AK-47, slid it inside, reload, turned the safety on and slung it across his back.

"I'm going to find him. It's the only thing I can do now."

Meanwhile the Hundred Rads, Flash gulped down a nice cold refreshing bottle of _water._ In just a blink of an eye, the bottle was empty.

"You don't drink do you?" Hacky asked curiously.

"Alcohol makes me stupid. Makes everyone stupid." Flash replied, ordering another bottle.

Hacky smiled, finally, he got hold of a man adequately competent to do his mission, and hopefully, work with him throughout this whole quest with Roksana. The barkeep told him that Flash was infamous for his numerous feats in the zone, so does any other professional stalkers, but what made him unique is that his humbleness and his services were borderline within Hacky's budget.

"So what do you want old man?" Flash began, pull his hood back, revealing the stalker his dark and filthy ginger hair.

"Not too long ago, I left some of my valuables inside a burrow under a Baikushev's Pine tree stump in Dark Valley." Hacky extrapolated.

"A Baisku-what?"

"A Baiskuche- never mind, I'll send you the coordinates from my PDA. Speaking of which, inside the burrow there is an old E-TEN Glofiish DX900 PDA. If you managed to give it to me undamaged or if it's still working, you can have the _rest_ of my stuff."

Flash accidentally snorted some cool water at the end of his nose, leaving him a terrible water-in-nose aftermath.

"Not much of a good stash I say!" Flash joked, still recovering by twitching his nose and wiping his tears from his eyes.

"You mean a Wind of Freedom suit, a Guardian of Freedom, a LR-300 and a RPK-74 not worthy enough for a bloke like yah?"

Flash retorted with a wry chuckle. "Including the money right?"

"Including the money," Hacky assured the loner, "and of course, you just need one armor and one assault rifle right?"

"True...anyways, is that it?"

Hacky eyes widened. "Yep, what? Do you expect something more? Something _extravagant_?"

"Well yeah, I mean, you can hire any sucker for this shit right?"

"Ahahaha," Hacky laughed softly, "Let me tell you something boy, I mean since you've been here for like what? Eight months?"

"Eight months and nine days." corrected Flash.

"Whatever, I've been in the zone a year and six months longer than you been and here's what I learned. One, anything can happen in the zone, any-_fucking_-thing. Second, I know you did some 'serious' shit here but that only been in the Garbage and Cordon. Third, how would you like to go on a magical quest for _something_ that is worth wealth way beyond your silly little imagination?"

Flash thought about it for a moment, the bar was peacefully quiet in the early morning because no one was there except Hacky and Flash, stalkers would usually go out to hunt, sleeping or suffering a huge hangover.

It was the perfect place for Hacky, Barkeep would usually be cooped up in his kitchen washing dishes and beer mugs, leaving them to have their little private discussion.

Until now...

"Knew I'd found you here!" Tolik greeted, "morning!"

Hacky grumbled under his breath, "Ugh..."

Before Hacky could introduce the two of them, Flash stood up and shook the novice's hand.

"Morning stalker, I'm Flash, pleasure to meet your acquaintance."

"I'm Tolik, had a great sleep last night, you a friend of Hacky?"

"Actually we just met," interrupted the veteran stalker. "Tolik, this man here is gonna help me, well not to say help but I'm paying him to get my stash at the Dark Valley."

Tolik nodded, "I see,"

"I would go there myself," Hacky continued, "but all I have is this baby gun and if I die out here now, god knows what would happen to poor little Roksana. Speaking of which, where is that little puppy?"

"Oh she's still sleeping,"

"So this girl you say, is she with you guys?" wondered Flash.

"Ah she is, sooner or later you'll meet her." Hacky said. "and by the way Tolik, would you like to join Flash to retrieve my stuff? I mean I know Roksana is taking quite a liking towards you, she needs more friends in a place like this. And maybe on your way, Flash can teach you a trick or two."

"Am I getting paid?" asked Tolik, his hopes raised.

"Ahahahaaha no."

"Fine, when do we start?

Flash patted on the loner's shoulder, "The sooner the better mah boy!"


	7. Here Comes the Cavalry

Here Comes the Cavalry

8:45 AM

22nd May 2012

The chilly Friday morning shivered the two travelling stalkers on their way to the Dark Valley, the icy wind penetrates through their thin and cheap coats as they ventured between the sandwiched fields of radiation and scattered anomalies. Briskly zigzagging with their firearms at hand, Tolik pressed his sawn-off TOZ-66 shotgun at his chest, in case of any mutants drifting by their vicinity. Springboard and Whirligig anomalies were sited afar from each other and between tight vacant spaces, luckily Flash prepared himself with a bag of bolts in his left waist-pouch, chucking one or two every now and then, instructing Tolik to stay close behind him.

And suddenly Flash raised his hand to stop his fellow accomplice.

"What?" Tolik asked, breathless from all that quick running.

"Take a breath, cuz we're gonna run like hell." Flash said, "Strong emissions of radiation ahead, so if you want to survive and have a lesser chance of getting cancer. I suggest you best be prepared."

Flash kneeled down and took a sprinting stance, Tolik imitated alongside the sniper stalker.

"Ready?" he said.

Tolik gave a reluctant nod.

"One, two…go!"

Tolik was far from a good head-start, other than the sluggish reaction time he stumbled clumsily on a muddied footpath, felt his hands pressing against the earthy ground and regained his running motion only by a couple of precious seconds. By then, Flash was ten metres away, darting his way through the vast ground of endless radiation.

"Cover your mouth and try to hold your breath!" Flash advised considerately.

Tolik did what he told and tried to keep up with his teammate, unfortunately his athleticism has proved to be a bit lacking. At first, nothing seemed to happen, the area that Flash warned seemed normal but nonetheless the stalker held his breath.

Just one and a half minute later, Flash and Tolik breathed a lungful of air, and still maintained their needed pace. Two minutes from starting point, Tolik's vision was getting blurrier and strangely, more static. He couldn't help himself from breathing as his lower chest and legs were burning. He gasped for air, but the timing was far from all right, just as he starts inhaling, everything in his sight turned white, static white.

The two stalkers ran past a signpost with the trefoil symbol on it and at this moment, now they were in the middle of radiation environs.

Tolik nestled on the ground, under sheer exhaustion and apparent sickness after being exposed from hazardous radiation. Flash suffered the same, the two men sweated and wheezed without uttering a single word to each other. They finally made it.

"Here," Tolik handed the stalker a bottle of vodka, breaking the silence.

"Cheers," Flash took a sip and passed it back to Tolik. "That was a good run eh?"

Tolik nodded, "Why did we choose that path again?"

"Just a shortcut Hacky told me about, as soon I knew the place was full of _it_ when I saw that signpost just now."

"I see, let's not try that ever again…"

"Agreed, well let's not waste any more time shall we?" Flash encouraged Tolik with a pat on the shoulder and the two of them headed out.

Still puffed and faintly disoriented, Tolik peered at a nearby swamp to distract himself from feeling fatigued.

They hiked on the summit of a knoll virgin from any anomalies, Flash whipped out his miniature compact binoculars, examined his PDA and turned back to his binoculars to gawk down the landscape.

Northeast from where they stood is the looming X-18 laboratory, standing eerily serene below the dark-clouded sky, and southeast is the bandits' headquarters where it is rumored that a lone amnesiac stalker named Marked One managed to single-handedly massacred all the hard-headed crooks in the premise, including Borov. The same loner who saved Tolik from the bandit raid that kidnapped Nimble.

"There," he pointed to the middle of nowhere. "Come on."

Moments later, they stumbled upon an ancient auburn tree-stump decorated with numerous rings to indicate its age.

Flash crouched over and dug under at the left side, then tried at the right. He scratched the ground with his bare hands, filling dirt under his nails. He swore.

"Do you have a spade or anything like that?" He asked Tolik, wiping the sweat on his forehead.

"Uhhh, I have a bowl?"

"Yeah, handed over,"

Tolik reached for his backpack and let out a translucent Tupperware bowl. Flash grumbled thanks and continued excavating beneath the dead tree stump.

"Got it!" Flash cheered merrily, and pulled out a large stuff sack from the den. The stuff sack is held together by a drawstring at the top and can carry a number of large items depending on its size and price. The stalker took a quick peek inside the bag.

"Wow…" he said and stuffed his arm inside and summoned an E-TEN Glofiish DX900 PDA, covered with scratches and the black exterior partially faded into grey. Like other generic PDAs, the front cover had a lengthy screen that makes up most of the space and three buttons below, including a D-pad with a "select" button in the center.

Flash attempted to switch it on, "Hmmm, battery's dead."

"No shit," Tolik joked. "Why didn't Hacky take it with him when he left the zone?"

"Dunno," Flash shrugged and put it back inside. "But look what this old geezer _have_ man!"

He passed Tolik an RPK-74, an assault-rifle parallel to the AKM chambered with the high-speed 5.45x39mm cartridge with the magazine reinforced with steel inserts, along with an extended chrome-plated barrel and a slightly angled and polished wooden stock.

Flash loaded the LR-300 and smiled to himself. The American assault is well recognized for its aptitude to make use of a fully-folding stock and have a standard direct impingement gas operating system, which conveniently removes the necessity for a receiver extension. The power of the LR-300 is that it has an effective range of 300 metres and possesses a firing rate of 950 rounds per minute.

Flash couldn't help but scoffed at Tolik's RPK-74.

"Wanna go back?" Tolik suggested.

"Hell yeah,"

10:02 AM

22nd May 2012

The putrid scent of a dead Flesh attracted a pack of ravenous blind dogs as they ripped, tore and fought for that last piece of hind leg amongst each other.

Then a gunshot missed one of the dogs by just a few inches. Tolik groaned.

"You don't do it like that bro," Flash sniggered, grabbing back his Vintar BC. "Watch and learn."

Tolik observed the sniper placing his eye near the scope, aimed and tensed his shoulders. He exhaled and tries a headshot, but instead hits target's neck. Instantly killing the unsuspecting mutant, the pack then scampered away from the two stalkers.

"Yeah that's a headshot, well not really but yeah," Flash said, still contented. "Well, all you gotta do Tolik is aim and focus, hold your breath and when you exhale, you pull the trigger."

"Sounds easy," Tolik said, "by the way, what's with that superhero name of yours eh? I bet it's totally unrelated from this sniping thing. Or is it that 'you kill people in a _flash_'?"

Flash chortled, "Close bro, close. But nah, I just like the name you know cuz I used to be a runner for the Olympics, representing Ukraine…"

"Yeah right, bullshit!"

"Ahahaha but yeah, actually I was a construction worker back at Kiev. My dad owns a hunting range too…hah, fun times."

"That explains your sniping skills…"

"I was a sporadic shooter. I hunt animals with friends and w-"

Out of the blue, panicked crows flew up to the skies as two noiseless shots were fired. It was from a sniper, and his bullets went straight to Flash's head and torso, the latter was obviously meant for Tolik. His head splattered brains and blood, some of them was on Tolik's balaclava. His body fell on the ground, forever lifeless.

Without thinking, he immediately snatched the bag and ran as the unknown sniper reloads his Dragunov. The sniper hit Flash from the sides and unintentionally acted as a bodyguard, thus protecting Tolik from the opposite, lucky bastard.

The assailants revealed themselves to be from the military, more specifically the Spetsnaz. Three or four more soldiers sprung out from hiding to stop the running loner and discharged their Abakans.

"Fuckin' Spetsnaz!" Tolik cursed as he sprints for his wretched life, the thought of an abrupt and gruesome death gave him a sudden godly energy to run like a stallion. Even the heavy stuff sack couldn't slow him down, for the source of his infinite stamina was from his fear. He ducked his head from the hail of bullets as the only thing that is imprinted in his mind is to dodge and run like fuck.

He was afraid of getting shot again, but his fears came true nonetheless. The novice fell on flat on his face, tasted the grimy soil on the earth, he got hit in the stomach. The bullet went through one of his vital organs, he didn't know which one but he knew it was fatal. He was now bleeding, his clothes soaked with blood. The Spetsnaz were gaining on him, taking their sweet time, like a typical deer hunt.

_Just go back to sleep, the army will kill you just for sport, _the phrase Wolf mentioned yesterday rang repeatedly in his head.

He imagined himself being tortured by the Spetsnaz, laughing maliciously as they do so.

"No!" he said to himself, coughing up blood.

He kicked the ground and continued to run…


	8. Death is the Zone's Best Friend

**Author's note: and I'm back! Sorry it took so long to update this story but hey I've finally done it. I somehow found my motivation back to write another chapter so have no fear stalkers, this story will continue. Also, I made a few changes in the previous chapters for reasons I'm too busy to explain. A special thanks to Von Rhettenstien for the reviews! Hope you enjoy! **

**P.S: please review so I can get better at my English skills.**

Death is the Zone's Best Friend

10:06 AM

22 May 2012

"Buzz off, merc. Assholes aren't allowed here." said the warrant officer, waving his double-barreled shotgun at Crow.

"I have business here, let me through." Crow answered curtly with the Duty officers piercing their eyes at him.

"Really now? Well then, state your business."

"I'm looking for a guy named Flash. Have you heard him?"

"No, now buzz off."

"I need to see that stalker."

"Oi! He already told you to leave didn't he?" shouted Bullet with great contempt, for a friend of the bandits is always an enemy of Duty, or so he thought. Unbeknownst to them, Crow wasn't a mercenary anymore and shares the exact same ideals as Duty. If the black and crimson armored stalkers weren't so quick to judge the loner, they would have been instant allies working alongside as a formidable force.

"See as in kill him right?" the warrant officer smirked, ignoring Bullet's comment.

"That's just stupid. You know what? Here, take my gun." Crow handed the Kalashnikov to the warrant officer.

"How bout your knife?" the skeptical officer examined the loaded AKm 74/2U and grinned to himself. _I'm gonna keep this._

"Don't have one, can I get in now?" Crow replied, his patience growing thin.

"Sure, go ahead and look for your boyfriend…" The officer sneered. "…but just remember, don't be an asshole eh?"

The Duty soldiers burst out laughing behind Crow as he went ahead to meet the already deceased stalker.

Feeling somehow naked and completely vulnerable without a gun, the Rostok's residence recognized Crow immediately thanks to his generic mercenary suit. The bar was obviously not his favorite place to hang out, not since he has connections with Freedom and his ex-affiliation with the mercenaries. Hell, he even spotted a stalker turning the safety off from his M16. Crow never felt so lost, he felt like the only thing he could do was to find this Flash dude. Maybe he didn't come to the Hundred Rads to find him, maybe he just needs a drink.

…

After a very close encounter with the Spetsnaz and almost getting fried by an Electro anomaly, Tolik peered behind the coniferous tree, wary of anyone or _anything_ nearby. He lifted up his leather jacket and T-shirt, took out one of those elastic roller bandages and wrapped it around his bleeding waist. His clothes were stained with blood and his face had dried flesh bits from Flash's head. He threw up his breakfast and laid himself against the tree, shivering with fright and terribly out of breath. The survivor took a moment to relax, cursing to himself and to the military. He took a handful of dirt from the ground and just smashed it to his head, asking why again and again to the air.

"Snap out of it!" he said to himself and glanced again behind the tree. No one was there. He took out his PDA and opens his email.

"_Hacky, I'm so sorry but Flash got killed by the Spetsnaz. We didn't see them coming! They were all over the pla-_"

The stalker hesitates and erased the whole message:

"_We got your stash and your PDA, but Flash is dead. He was kille-_" Tolik pressed the backspace button again and typed. "_Got your PDA." _was all that needed to be said. He stood up and headed back to the fallen loner.

The Spetsnaz were nowhere in sight and Flash's body was still there, along with his VSS Vintorez. The blood made the soil red and his body was stiff and cold, facing the ground.

"Just another day in the zone hey Flash?" Tolik said feebly and turned his corpse around, revealing a pair of green eyes gazing lifelessly at the sky and a scar of an untold story. Tolik closed them and laid his sniper rifle by his side, rested his head to a rock. He then collects some branches from a nearby tree and made a cross by wrapping it with a spare bandage and stuck it on the ground behind the deceased loner. Normally, any stalker would just loot from the dead indiscriminatingly, whether friend or foe. Tolik was no exception.

He took everything except the Vintar rifle and found a glowing bright-blue artifact, Flash.

"I'm sorry bro, but it's not like you need this stuff anyway..." assured Tolik, placing the artifact in his belt. Some other stuff he snatched was a yoyo, a medical kit, some ammo, a Timex watch, and a wallet that pocketed four grand of cash.

"Andrew Borysko." Tolik read out the name from Flash's ID card. "Rest in peace Andrew, you were a good stalker…even though I never knew you that much." The stalker added an honorary salute before making his way back to the bar.

…

"I never thought I'd see you again Yadviga." admitted Ivantsov, pouring his colleague a shot of vodka. Roskana watched the two men mingled while she again felt alone but intrigued at the same time. What was most intriguing for her was the exoskeleton suit that Ivantsov was wearing, which somehow reminded her of Darth Vader.

"What can I say Ivan. Even the zone can't take me!" snorted Hacky.

"Don't say that, you never know…you might have just jinxed yourself." The veteran shook his head.

Yadviga laughed out loud and turned to Roksana. "Same old Ivan, always superstitious! Say, how long have you been in Duty brother?"

"Almost a year now, ten…wait, eleven months perhaps? Well, back then I was still like you Yad, a prick that the zone couldn't get rid off. So I got tired of wandering aimlessly in this bloody zone, it started to be like when I was back at Kiev. No fucking purpose whatsoever."

"What made being in Duty so different?" scoffed Hacky, chucking down the vodka.

"I get told what to do…I don't care about their ethics or rules or their ideology. Just give me a gun and tell me what to shoot! And the pay is not bad."

The men chuckled to themselves, while Roksana just threw a discomfited smile. Ivantsov turned to the quiet red-head.

"So what made you come here dear? You know the zone is not the place for little girls." said the master stalker condescendingly.

"Ahahaha your funny, I think I'm going to like you too." Roksana retorted sarcastically.

Ivantsov just stared at her with that gas-mask of his, not giving out any expression but a blank soulless stare and then said.

"I'm surprised you even made it this far…" suddenly his PDA buzzed.

"_Hey Ivan, guess what?_" interrupted his friend, sounding somewhat excited.

"What is it Drifter?" Ivan sighed.

"_There was this mercenary at the bar right? His name was Crow or something and he was looking for a guy called Flash. So he started asking the barman some questions and then there's this OTHER guy Shev just walked in. Apparently that Shev fella was an old friend of Crow's but then he sold him out to a couple of bandits…you should have seen Shev's face-_"

"So? Did they kill each other or what?"

"_No they didn't, the merc was empty so he started beating the crap out of that 'friend' of his…and then Garik stopped the two men and reported them both to Plichko._"

"What happened then?" Ivan asked as the three stalkers were getting more and more interested.

"_They were both sent into the arena…_"

"To fight each other?"

Drifter chortled sinisterly, "_no, something way better…Bloodsuckers._"


	9. A Symbol of Corruption

**Author's note:**

**Again sorry for the VERY late update, it's tough to write your stories when you're juggling both work AND college all at the same time. But yeah, I'm not giving up on this story cuz of you reading this means alot to me and your reviews motivates me even more. So please my friends, enjoy. :)**

A Symbol of Corruption

12:34 PM

22 May 2012

_Three years._ _Three years I had been locked up._ Crow contemplated, caged in the dark corner of a tight prison cell that reeked of urine and faeces. Once a police officer in Iraq, he was arrested for the murder of two U.S troops and was without delay incarcerated, but got released three years later by a private military corporation based in New Mexico. The Ukrainian was then recruited by the company and returned back to Iraq and forced to work as a mercenary with one main objective; to capture exiled Iraqi politicians and ex-high ranked soldiers- dead or alive. Since the discovery of the zone, Crow left the corporation despite being threatened to be thrown back in jail but he did so anyway and now found himself in a familiar position six years ago.

"Okay here are the rules," explained Arnie, "you two will go first but you will be armed only with a knife each. A Chaser will be placed in the middle of the arena, as soon as you enter you need to get to that weapon before your opponent does, or else…bye-bye. Now here comes the best part, when one of you manages to get hold of that shotgun the bloodsuckers will be let loose."

A moment of silence ensued amongst the three. They were at the Duty's headquarters, Shev and Crow were in separate prison cells while Arnie stood outside, very eager for this competition.

"Any questions?" Arnie coughed.

"How many bloodsuckers are we talking?" Crow asked.

"Can't tell you that," Arnie gave a slight sadistic grin.

"What if we don't do this fight?" asked Shev anxiously. He was a gaunt-looking man with a buzz-cut hairstyle, his cheeks were famished and had tired blue eyes associated with many wrinkles under them. Crow on the other hand, possessed a muscular and fit physique, dark brown eyes, a sharp nose, a five o'clock shadow beard, and a small black crew cut. The only similarity between the two is their pale skin and bloated ego.

"Then you'll be stuck here till god knows when." The organizer of the competition shrugged.

"I didn't do anything wrong! He's the one that attacked me!"

"Always the pussy eh Shevchenko?" Crow slurred.

"Fuck you Crow." the loner retorted.

"That's enough," Voronin snapped as he walked in the chamber.

"Thanks for the opportunity General," Arnie said cheerily, who had finally brought just one of his madcap ideas that he concocted into the arena, the other one was giving each opponent a bazooka but due to budget restraints... "It's tough to find his _kind_ anywhere." He gestured towards Crow.

"He's not an animal Arnie, well, except for you Shev...we don't tolerate rats..." the general hissed with disgust and then turned to Crow, "...nor do we tolerate violence."

"It's the zone baby," Crow replied mockingly, "get use to it."

"Call me baby one more time and I'll shove your ass full of lead."

...

"This is gonna be interesting," said Hacky, who was watching from the top box alongside Roksana and Ivantsov. "And we got the best seat in the house!" he added.

"It looks like every other 'seat' of the house …" contradicted Roksana as she covered her nose and examined the interior through the bars. "...and it stinks here."

"Is she always like this?" Ivantsov said, easily irritated by the girl stalker.

"Just let her be," Hacky answered unwearyingly, "...and hey, looks like we got ourselves one hell of a crowd too." he commented, referring to the jam-packed viewers peering eagerly down on the indoor battlefield, the room was filled with excitement, as they placed their bets on Crow, Shev or the bloodsuckers.

The arena was slightly bigger than the size of a futsal field, with stacked crates serving its purpose both as a maze and gun-cover. The two prisoners were led out from opposite sides, Crow as on Hacky's right and Shev was on his left. Colonel Petrenko and Sergeant Plichko uncuffed the captives respectively and pushed them into the arena.

...

1:18 PM

_I'm not going to win this._ Shev confessed to himself. He can feel his heart thumping through his ribs, as if it was trying to escape from his own flesh and blood. He felt nauseous, and the crowd jeering and cheering was not helping him at all.

"The game hasn't start yet you cunts..." he muttered breathlessly and closed his eyes. He tried to block all five senses, the sight of uncertainty, the noise of corruption, the smell of blood, and the grasp of reality, only allowing the sound of his heartbeat and the hissing of the leaked steam pipe above him.

"_Welcome everyone, today we got ourselves some new stalkers! Introducing newcomers Crow and Shevchenko in this one-on-one deathmatch...but will either live long enough to fight the bloodsuckers, let alone survive the second encounter? One way to find out!"_ the megaphones boomed.

The whistles blew and Shev sprinted his way to the centre of the arena, vaulting over the crates as he did so. He felt his sweat dripping under his eyelids and a minute seemed like an hour to him. Then at last he saw it, the pump-action Mossberg Maverick placed perfectly on the ground, untouched. For once Shevchenko never felt so happy and not a moment to waste he seized the shotgun in his shaking hands.

Crow on the other hand was tailing Shev all along, he stealthily manoeuvred himself around his opponent and crept behind him, crouching like a predator ready to pounce for his prey. With his knife at hand, he leaped to his target and stabbed him at the lower abdomen.

The crowd went insane as Shev let out a helpless cry, dropping his weapon to the ground because of the combat knife ripped through the Kevlar and deep into his back, fatally wounding him. "Die you traitor!" Crow whispered sadistically as he locked around the traitor's neck with his left arm.

"You would have done the same…" the loner murmured with his dying breath. "_You piece of shit_."

"You think so now do you, old friend?" Crow retorted indifferently, he dropped Shev to the ground as he began shivering silently to his death.

The whistles blew again, the second round was about to start. The loner hastily grabbed the shotgun and went on top of one of the nearest and highest crates. He watched as the caged doors from both ends of the arena opened leisurely. He took aim within the iron sights of his newfound firearm. The bloodsuckers set foot on the battleground and they both spotted Crow immediately, smelling him like a prey. They roared ferociously with hunger and cloaked themselves with their near-perfect optic camouflage, revealing only their lambent eyes.

"Oh my god," Roksana's covered her mouth in disbelief. "What the hell are those _things_? Did they just turn invisible?" she watched in horror at the bloodsucker's terrifying appearance, it possessed a hunched humanoid form correlated with rotting dark-brown skin, slimy combination of tentacles and fangs protruding from its mouth and sharp deadly claws made to be their main offence, obviously to kill their victims.

"Watch closely, you might learn something." Hacky advised shrewdly.

_I got six shots, so three shells each...make it count!_ Crow thought, as the bloodthirsty monsters came charging towards the centre where he was.

"Come on, hit me!" Crow taunted, raising his shotgun at the one nearest to him. He jumped behind the crates, facing one on the front one since the other was sluggish thanks to starvation. The fresher-looking bloodsucker appeared to his right, barely visible from the naked eye, but it's the heavy breathing and eyes failed its absent facade. Crow acquired his first shot but the bloodsucker parried to Crow's left, evading his shotgun blast completely and edged closer to him. He then smacked the bloodsucker in the head with the butt and stock of the Chaser 13. Causing it to stumble backwards, thus giving some time for the ex-mercenary to pump in another shell, take aim, and fire.

_Boom! Chik-Chik! Boom! Chik-Chik! Boom! Chik-Chik! Boom! Chik-Chik!_

After an intense amount of persistent endurance, the beast laid dead. _That was five shots idiot!_ Crow thought, catching his breath as he glanced at the dead creature and looked behind him, waiting for the second one to appear. But it didn't. Then he heard slurping noises behind the crates he once was up on. He crouched and sneaked around the boxes, thankfully the audience were silent as they watched with nail-biting anticipation. The second ravenous bloodsucker, sucking the blood of Shev's remains enjoyably, and did not bother looking for its supposed victim.

The loner went in cover for one last time, readied his weapon and went swiftly to finish of his next opponent. Crow eyes widened, the bloodsucker was gone. In a blink of the eye, it appeared right behind him and ripped through his mercenary suit and into his back tissue.

"Argh!" Crow yelled in agony, as three long gashes appeared at his back and started bleeding, soaking his armour with blood. He elbowed the bloodsucker's face but it did hardly anything as the monster swiped Crow's weapon from his clutches.

The stalker whipped out his knife as the vampiric-monster lunged itself onto Crow, attempting to bite with its tentacle fangs. Crow struggled to gain the upper hand from the bloodsucker, which was twice his size. He could smell the putrid breath of the creature as it drew closer to him, its tentacles reaching out to his face.

"Fuck off cunt!" Crow swore as the vicious humanoid bit his forearm instead, wrapping his 'suckers' around them. Drawn into a fit of unfathomable rage, Crow jammed his army knife deep inside the bloodsucker's skull only to be reacted with an even a tighter bite by its razor-sharp fangs.

The ex-mercenary restrained himself from screaming in pain for there was no time for that kind of leisure. Instead, he executed a couple of quick and efficient knife work, thus subduing his opponent and decapitating its head off from its body so he could release his arm from the grip of its face. He levered the jaw of the dead vampire, trying to separate the fangs _and _tentacles away from his already-bleeding arm. Bloodsucker saliva dripped into his wound, but with one last hard lift from his bloody blade he finally managed to separate the remains of the once dangerous being.

He stood there for a while, with bits of incisors still buried deep in his forearm and the smell of the bloodsucker's breath lingers hauntingly in his mind. The silence was broken when there was a loud victorious roar from the audience. Crow looked up and saw the people cheering above him. However, the feeling of victory was not mutual at, all Crow just killed a long-time friend, the last remaining member of his squad and also the last person he thought to have betrayed him.

He collapsed on his knees for the pain was too much for his body to bear. Then the people around him stopped cheering, replaced with sounds of panic and anger.

"Don't die!" one stalker said amongst the swarm. "I paid_ good_ money for you to survive dickhead!

"Oh that's new, all of them are killed!" another one shouted in bitterness. "I want a fucking refund!"

Then amongst all the bickering came a voice that separated all others.

"Roksana take this man now! He's in a bad shape! We gotta help him..." Hacky ran inside the arena despite the duty officer's protests.

_Roksana?_ Crow pondered, looking at Hacky's companion. Her long red hair flew graciously as she dashed towards him. Her eyes were filled with fear and worry over a man she doesn't even know.

_It's a woman!_

Crow smiled weakly to her as she helped Crow up on his feet. He could feel her soft hands caressing on his battered self.

_No._

Hacky aided him on the other side.

_An angel._


	10. Regroup, Recover and Revenge

**Author's note: Forgive me for not updating this story sooner by I am back and am enjoying my holidays right now, so expect more to come this summer and I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks for reading and I appreciate your reviews as always comrades. **

Regroup and Recover

5:07 PM

22 May 2012

The grey clouds loomed over the Rostok Factory like a blanet of shadow, it was near sunset and the cold was setting in. The howling winds were rough in the evening as it blew in Hacky's direction with utmost persistence and without mercy, sending him shivering to the bone. He rubbed both of his arms and hastily went inside the infirmary nearby the arena. It was a wide room that used to be a truck garage for shipping deliveries of the abandoned factory. The walls were a faded-green and rusted-framed moldy beds lined up at both sides of the wall, serving as a resting place for the wounded. Hacky strode across the room, his footsteps echoed his presence. He watched the ceiling fans spun almost lazily, as if it was going to fall any second. He caught the sight of Crow, sitting on the corner of one the beds at the far right of the hospice. Roksana was kneeling right behind him, aiding him or at least trying to.

"Hold still…" Roksana pleaded impatiently as she stitched the third deep gash on his back, his flesh was stinging from all the anti-septic. Crow didn't feel much since he was high from the morphine Ivantsov gave him; he felt dazed and didn't notice Hacky until he was a few feet away.

Hacky greeted him with a sly grin and dug his pockets a red packet of Winfield's and a black lighter. He chucked it at Crow, offering him a smoke.

Crow accepted the offer as he caught it with one hand, annoying Roksana as she struggles to keep him still. "Thanks." He mumbled as he placed the cigarette between his lips and lighted it.

"_That was one hell of a fight_." Hacky commended as he sat on the empty bed beside Crow.

"That was," agreed Crow, exhaling a long puff of smoke. His eyes wandered around the room curiously like a ten year-old boy in a newly-opened candy shop.

"So what brings you here stalker?" Hacky asked innocently.

"Blood and gratitude," Crow answered with his eyes straight into Hacky's. "I did the blood part, but I haven't gotten around on to the gratitude. What about you?"

The balding middle-aged man played with his thumbs. "Well, you see-"

"Not you," Crow snapped softly. "_Her._"

Roksana found herself in an awkward position as her eyes met Crow's as he turned his head back, gazing at her for an answer.

"I-I'm looking for my brother…" she stammered.

Crow scoffed and inhaled another long puff. "Why? He's probably dead." Flustered, Roksana bit her lip and jabbed the needle at his wound purposely.

"Ow!" the loner hissed as he glared at her with sudden contempt. Roksana gave an insincere apology and resumed her stitching, as if nothing happened. The smell of burnt nicotine filled the room, much to Roksana's dismay. She hated smoking and her face was suddenly swept with worry, "_What if my brother is dead?"_ she thought, after all it is the zone. Then the thought came to her, her brother lying dead over a pool of blood, his face soulless and cold. "_No, my brother can't be dead! He can't!"_ She repeated in her heart a number of times, trying to escape herself from the dark grasp of probability and logic. After all, hope is a funny little thing.

"So anyway," Hacky began, sparing Roksana from her thoughts. "I wanted to ask you something, since you're a merc and all. Well you used to be-"

"Get to the point." Crow said, irritated.

"Okay," Hacky learned forward as if he was about to whisper. "Have you heard the name of Sergiy Yaroslav?"

There was a small pause, "There are two Sergiy Yaroslavs in the zone, but I only know one." Crow mused over, retracing back his time with his old faction.

"Do you mean the _mercenary_ Sergiy Yaroslav?"

"You mean ex-mercenary Sergiy Yaroslav, and yes I met him only once and that was in Wild Territory."

"Where is he now?"

"He was assigned to Yantar, to work and do errands for Professor Sakharov. Right before Wolfhound's band merged their faction with the bandits'." Crow gritted his teeth and crushed his cigarette as the word '_bandits_' came out of his mouth. "I don't know what happen to him since then."

_A lead, finally!_ Hacky thought to himself smiling. Crow proved to be more useful than he intentionally thought. From the moment he entered the ring to fight his friend and the bloodsuckers, Hacky knew saving him was worth _his_ time.

"How is Sergiy like?" Roksana asked, almost quietly.

"He's a good shot, always sharp and vigilant. I can tell he was a man of honor even though I spoke with him briefly." Crow praised with a smile and then it struck him. "Is he your brother?"

"Yes he is."

Silence fell for a short while before Ivantsov and Arnie entered the room, the latter had a wide grin across his face.

"Thanks to you, I'm a king for a day!" Arnie said gleefully. He was smoking a big fat cigar and gave Roksana a dirty wink, making her cringe. Ivantsov on the other hand, stood like a sentry, his face veiled by his gas-mask but even so Crow knew that he was staring at him peculiarly.

"So what's next? Can I go?" Crow asked monotonously, ignoring Ivantsov.

Arnie nodded, still smiling. "You're free to go stalker…" the once mutant-smuggler then revealed a wad of rubles in the form of five-hundreds and handed to the injured comrade. "…and here's for your trouble my friend. Also if you happen to be out of money and feel like you need a good fight, come to me."

"You're not supposed to give the prisoner a _reward_." Ivantsov protested.

"He's not a prisoner, not anymore at least." Arnie corrected and turned around, bidding farewell as he left the medical bay with haste.

"It seems eleven months in Duty has made even you into a tight ass, huh Ivan?" Hacky jeered. Ivantsov kept quiet and Crow let out a sigh of relief, he was free now and felt that was the shortest time he spent in a prison. He threw the money aside and left it uncounted.

A man wearing a balaclava carrying a heavy rucksack over his shoulder stumbled inside the infirmary not long after that, he was covered in dirt from head to toe and his yellow leather jacket soaked in dried blood. The visitor was clutching his stomach, making it palpable that he was recently shot. Tolik limped his way towards the group, sweating and breathless.

"Ah Tolik!" Hacky greeted "Got your message! I see you guys recovered my PDA. Say, where's Flash?"

"Tolik!" Roksana cried in joy. Only to soon realize that he was in pain, she quickly sprung from the bed and embraced him. "You're injured!"

"I'm fine," He said weakly and turned to Hacky. "Flash is dead."

"What?" Hacky said as he stood up, shocked. "How could this happen?"

Tolik told the whole story about the Spetsnaz attack that came out of nowhere, the sniper that ended Flash's life in a single headshot and how he barely made it out alive and escaped. After he was done telling, Hacky's expression of disbelief stayed with him until the end of the story, he couldn't believe his luck.

"I just sent the poor boy to his death," Hacky muttered with a sorrow tone.

"It wasn't your fault Yadviga, if there was anyone to blame it's the Spetsnaz." Ivantsov said. Tolik nodded his head in agreement and handed Hacky his PDA and his rucksack.

"Fucking army dogs!" Tolik swore in anger.

"Flash…" Crow whispered. "He saved my life."

Everyone turned to Crow, bemused. Roksana didn't know who this Flash was, but even so she felt sorry for him and felt it was a shame they did not meet, for they might have been fast friends. Ivantsov heard of Flash's daring adventures in the zone, how he and a friend of his single-handedly fooled a group of bandits and stole all their belongings and his encounter with Major Chekhov and his squad was nothing more than a deer hunt thanks to his exceptional sniping ability. To some, his stories have made him immortal and to his close friends, his outgoing personality had made him easily likeable to anyone he shakes hands with. But to most, Flash was just another dead guy in the zone.

"He was meant to join our group as soon as he retrieved my stuff…" Hacky explained to Crow. "But the zone took him before we could even begin our journey."

"So what's our next course of action?" Crow smirked.

"_Our_?"

Crow stood up after Roksana finished patching up his fourth wound, "Yeah, if you're heading to Yantar then count me in. I have some _unfinished_ business to take care of."


End file.
